Rumors have increasingly pointed to a September 12 unveiling of Apple's yearly iPhone hardware update for 2012. Last year's iPhone 4S was a largely internal hardware update, with little visible change in the external design. This year, however, Apple is believed to be gearing up for an external restyling in addition to some rather significant (by Apple's standards, at least) hardware changes.

We decided to run down the various rumors to put together a picture of what we might expect to—and maybe what we dream might—come next month.

LTE

Support for the 4G LTE wireless standard seems like a given. The iPad already incorporates support for LTE—though it's only supported in the US and Canada for the time being. In the past, Apple has cited design compromises as the reason that the iPhone hasn't supported LTE; indeed, chips to support it have been too large and consumed too much power to integrate into the iPhone. To wit, the third-generation iPad had to actually be made thicker than the iPad 2 to increase battery capacity to account for LTE (in addition to its Retina display).

Enlarge/ The next-gen iPhone may include support for faster 4G LTE networks.

Qualcomm has been promising for some time to release next-generation baseband chips, similar to those used in the iPhone 4S, that have LTE support built-in. These chips are made on a smaller, more power-efficient process, so Apple should no longer have to compromise the iPhone design to use them. The chips were supposed to start shipping in quantity earlier this year, so Apple should hopefully have ample supply for the next iPhone.

The trickiest part about supporting LTE is that the widest network availability is still largely limited to the US. Where other deployments exist, they don't support they same frequencies. The US is still a very large market for the iPhone, despite the majority of sales coming from foreign buyers. LTE-compatible Android devices have also proliferated over the past year. Given this, Apple can't continue to ignore LTE support anymore.

At the same time, Apple will have to be very careful about its messaging on LTE support. It ran into trouble calling the LTE-compatible iPad "WiFi + 4G," particularly in Australia, where consumers complained that it didn't support LTE in their area. iPhone LTE support may be limited to the US (though there are some indications that LTE in the next iPhone may be supported in more countries). If so, Apple needs to be very clear about that.

Processor

The A5 processor in the iPhone 4S is very capable, both from a general processing and a graphics perspective. The A5X "extreme" version used in the third-generation iPad basically just has additional graphics cores to power its much higher pixel count, so we don't believe it would make a good fit for an iPhone.

However, some circumstantial evidence has pointed toward a quad-core "A6" processor being in development. Many high-end Android devices have adopted quad-core processors, so Apple may see the need to add a quad-core processor merely to keep up appearances. At the same time, the iPhone has consistently offered a user experience that often matches or exceeds that of Android on comparatively modest hardware. Apple could very well bring over the A5 to a new iPhone without any performance penalty.

If Apple can make a quad-core processor that doesn't significantly exceed the A5's current power requirements, expect it to pop up in the next iPhone. Still, we don't think this is a definite lock.

Screen

Apple is believed to be incorporating "in-cell" touch sensing into its next-generation iPhone. This technology incorporates the touch-sensing capacitors into the LCD matrix itself, eliminating the need for a separate layer for the invisible touch sensors. The benefit to the end-user is a crisper display, while the benefit to Apple is that the panel itself is thinner. This change seems very probable for September, and we can't imagine anyone would complain about having a sharper screen.

Screen size is an area where rumors have been more contentious. The screen of the iPhone has remained the same 3.5" size and 3:2 proportions since 2007. Meanwhile, Android device makers have continually pushed screen sizes ever larger, sometimes resulting in comically large devices occasionally referred to as "phablets."

The demand for a larger screen, while not necessarily universal, may be too hard to ignore. But instead of just making the iPhone bigger overall, the latest rumors suggest that Apple is making the screen larger by extending its vertical dimension. This would make the screen a 16:9 proportion, with 1136 x 640 pixels. Apparently the iPhone simulator, when used by developers to test apps in iOS 6, supports this resolution. Steve Jobs himself reportedly "worked closely" on a larger-screened iPhone, so it seems pretty close to a sure bet.

An alleged next-gen iPhone faceplate, showing a taller, 16:9 opening for the display.

The toughest challenge for such a change lies with developers. By merely extending the vertical dimension, most apps would require little or no changes for compatibility. Vertically, apps would just have more vertical scrolling space; horizontally, things would just stretch a bit more to fill the space. Apps with custom UIs, or full-screen apps like games, would require a bit of tweaking. The amount of effort won't be zero, but we expect developers to quickly adapt.

Revised dock connector

Another more radical change is the rumor that Apple will be ditching the 30-pin dock connector for a much smaller connector. The exact number of pins this new connector will use isn't agreed upon—some have suggested as many as 19, while others have pointed to as few as eight. Regardless of the number, such a change would make some waves with accessory makers as much as it would with users. We're sure we're not the only ones with a collection of 30-pin dock connector accessories like cables, adapters, and speaker docks.

The common theory is that Apple will include or offer separately some kind of adapter so a new iPhone will work with older accessories, like it has for MagSafe 2. But many docks and other devices are made to fit snugly, so an adapter won't work in those cases. Clearly, the change is going to be inconvenient for users and accessory makers alike as a range of newer devices and cables compatible with a revised port work their way into the marketplace.

Still, we have argued that if any time is a good time for Apple to make that change, it's right now, while the company commands such a prominent presence in the mobile market. The popularity of the iPhone and iPad mean accessory markers will jump at the opportunity to make new or revised devices, so users won't likely have long to wait.

Camera

We detailed a few hardware changes Apple might incorporate into a next-generation iPhone earlier this year. Considering the resolution and size of the existing camera hardware, there isn't much Apple can do without sacrificing image quality.

However, the company may be able to go with a larger, higher-resolution sensor. Going this route means revising the lens and dedicating more space for camera hardware, but it at least is in the realm of possibility. With a suitably high resolution, Apple could also consider using alternate color filter patterns, which can result in better low-light capture or color accuracy.

Still, the iPhone camera hardware is widely considered some of the best among smartphones. So we won't be surprised if the camera hardware itself remains unchanged for a next-gen iPhone. Instead, we think it's smarter for Apple to add features to the camera software, enabling optional manual control over exposure, for instance.

"Nano" SIM

Apple was largely the party responsible for the recently adopted 4FF "nano" SIM standard approved by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. This SIM is 40 percent smaller than the current "micro" SIMs used in the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and other smartphones.

The smaller size saves just a tiny bit of space relative to the size of an iPhone, but we expect Apple to adopt the standard sooner rather than later. We feel that it is likely the next-gen iPhone will use nano SIMs.

Battery

An iPhone is stuffed with its logic board, connectors, camera, and SIM among other hardware. What's left over is nothing but battery. There haven't been any radical technological advances in battery capacity, so we don't expect much change here. However, Apple has managed to squeeze a tiny bit of extra capacity into each successive iPhone. Our biggest concern is the impact of LTE support—Apple will have to do something to keep the iPhone running as long as possible, which may largely be related to improved power management techniques.

Size

Despite the rumored change in screen size, the overall dimensions of the iPhone are expected to be about the same as the current iPhone 4S. Overall the device may be slightly taller, but not significantly so (according to various parts leaks). A slightly larger device would allow room for more battery capacity, however, which as we noted above could come in handy when trying to manage support for LTE networking.

Style

The style of the next iPhone is also largely expected to be similar to the current iPhone. Alleged parts that have leaked out show a nearly identical front face, save the taller opening for the expected 16:9 screen. The outer rim still appears to be a brushed metal and likely continues to serve as an external antenna. The back looks as though it may be a composite of brushed, anodized aluminum along with plastic or glass on the top and bottom.

The power, home, and volume buttons appear to be nearly identical to current iPhone designs. As noted, the dock connector appears to be replaced with a much smaller port, allowing Apple to increase the size of the speaker and microphone grilles.

The most unusual change, we think, is the purported relocation of the headphone jack to the bottom. It seems this placement could be due to how a Dock adapter might work. The headphone jack could support analog audio signals, which are currently handled with dedicated pins on the 30-pin dock connector. It may also provide some stability for connecting to existing speaker and charging docks.

We think a lot of users will find this bottom placement bothersome and awkward, though the headphone jack is on the bottom of more than one iPod model.

If the sky were the limit

There have certainly been more radical changes mentioned in connection with a next-generation iPhone, however unlikely. For instance, Apple still has an exclusive worldwide license to use "Liquidmetal," a special amorphous metal alloy that can be molded and formed like plastic. So far the material has yet to be featured in an Apple product, but it promises to be much stronger and much lighter than, say, carved billet aluminum or Gorilla glass.

Liquidmetal certainly sounds like the future, but unfortunately we have seen no evidence to suggest that Apple has worked out all the kinks in manufacturing Liquidmetal parts. As much as we might like to see it next month, we don't see this happening in the near future.

Rumors last year suggested that Apple was experimenting with a "teardrop" shaped iPhone that mimicked the style of a MacBook Air. After Apple released the iPhone 4S, however, it was suggested that Apple was saving this more radical design for next year. The recent purported leaked parts suggest this still isn't happening.

But hey, Apple has been able to surprise us in the past. Personally, something more like the "teardrop" iPhone looks much more appealing to me than the design embodied in the parts that have leaked online.

Finally, some speculation has pointed toward Apple adopting Thunderbolt for a next-generation iPhone. None of the leaked information supports this speculation, and what we know about the technical requirements of the technology suggests it won't appear in any smartphone anytime soon.

Still, it would be great if iPhone syncing was measured in seconds instead of minutes. We are going to go out on a bit of a limb and say the next-gen iPhone could very well support USB 3.0—it isn't yet supported across all Macs, but it is backward compatible with USB 2.0.

If you could spec out the next iPhone, what would it look like? What critical features or hardware would it have? Tell us all about it in the comments.

Promoted Comments

However, some circumstantial evidence has pointed towards a quad-core "A6" processor being in development. Many high-end Android devices have adopted quad-core processors, so Apple may see the need to add a quad-core processor merely to keep up appearances....If Apple can make a quad-core processor that doesn't significantly exceed the A5's current power requirements, expect it to pop up in the next iPhone.

This would have been a lot more interesting and thorough if you'd mentioned heterozygous vs homozygous "quadcore". ARM's big.LITTLE strategy, wherein two A15s are combined with two instruction compatible A7s (probably using LP-transistors), makes a lot of sense, and should enable both higher performance when desired and superior power usage. Nvidia's Tegra 3 had a more primitive version of this: it was "5 core" but one of them was a low power frequency limited companion core made for idle loads.

Quote:

Still, we don't think this is a definite lock.

If not, probably only because it's still too early for them to make it work. PowerVR's Series 6 (which the article also misses) was demoed at CES, but even so it still may be too early. However if they couldn't make it for fall it's probably just a matter of time and would likely see launch in spring. Dual-dual core (heterozygous quad core) and Series 6 are the logical followup to what they've got, and seem like a better solution then homozygous quad core. What's the point of that right now in a mobile system? There is still quite a ways to go in terms of IPC and clock before it's really necessary to start going with more cores.

Speaking of which, a process shrink would also give Apple plenty of headroom to just take the simplest option of all and up the clock rate. They've been pretty conservative on that front, and could probably get an easy 50% out of the A5 in the iPhone just by doing that (800 MHz -> 1.2 GHz, which is hardly aggressive compared to other SoCs). A few tweaks and a bumped clock would probably be enough if push came to shove.

The trickiest part about supporting LTE is that the widest network availability is still largely limited to the US. Where other deployments exist, they don't support they same frequencies. The US is still a very large market for the iPhone, despite the majority of sales coming from foreign buyers.

Apple is going to have to make multiple models of the next iPhone just to support LTE in the US since you can't have both AT&T and Verizon 700MHz support on the same device. That said a third model for the EU/Asia and other areas to support LTE on 800/1800/2.6GHz shouldn't be an issue from a technical standpoint. It might not come out immediately but I assume it'll come before Christmas. And maybe a fourth model for China Mobile's 650M subscribers before Chinese new year.

What you won't get with the LTE iPhone is international LTE roaming. But considering AT&T charges $30 for 120MB of data I'm ok with just 3G speeds abroad.

However, some circumstantial evidence has pointed towards a quad-core "A6" processor being in development. Many high-end Android devices have adopted quad-core processors, so Apple may see the need to add a quad-core processor merely to keep up appearances....If Apple can make a quad-core processor that doesn't significantly exceed the A5's current power requirements, expect it to pop up in the next iPhone.

This would have been a lot more interesting and thorough if you'd mentioned heterozygous vs homozygous "quadcore". ARM's big.LITTLE strategy, wherein two A15s are combined with two instruction compatible A7s (probably using LP-transistors), makes a lot of sense, and should enable both higher performance when desired and superior power usage. Nvidia's Tegra 3 had a more primitive version of this: it was "5 core" but one of them was a low power frequency limited companion core made for idle loads.

Quote:

Still, we don't think this is a definite lock.

If not, probably only because it's still too early for them to make it work. PowerVR's Series 6 (which the article also misses) was demoed at CES, but even so it still may be too early. However if they couldn't make it for fall it's probably just a matter of time and would likely see launch in spring. Dual-dual core (heterozygous quad core) and Series 6 are the logical followup to what they've got, and seem like a better solution then homozygous quad core. What's the point of that right now in a mobile system? There is still quite a ways to go in terms of IPC and clock before it's really necessary to start going with more cores.

Speaking of which, a process shrink would also give Apple plenty of headroom to just take the simplest option of all and up the clock rate. They've been pretty conservative on that front, and could probably get an easy 50% out of the A5 in the iPhone just by doing that (800 MHz -> 1.2 GHz, which is hardly aggressive compared to other SoCs). A few tweaks and a bumped clock would probably be enough if push came to shove.

The frequency issue appears to have been resolved by Qualcomm in their WTR1605L chipset - which supports 7 different bands. That should mean that Apple can build one phone which will work throughout the world.

What is the battery life on LTE phones like though? I remember that the original iPhone was EDGE rather than 3G because of the poor talk and standby times.

We think a lot of users will find this bottom placement bothersome and awkward, though the headphone jack is on the bottom of more than one iPod model.

No, I'll find this to be how I always wanted it. When I stick my hand in my pocket, I prefer to be able to grab the phone and pull it up out in front of my without turning it. This means that since my hand goes in fingers down, and you naturally hold a phone it front of you with your fingers up (relative to your palm/wrist), it makes the most sense for your phone to be in your pocket upside down. With the headphone jack on top, this is impossible.

I've been wanting this change since I got an iPhone 4 18ish months ago.

After the Apple/Samsung trial, I can no longer read anything about Apple without getting angry.

It's probably not healthy to be emotionally invested in technology patents, however.

It's not healthy to get emotionally invested in a one hundred-billion-plus multinational vs another hundred-billion-plus multinational. Despite the breathlessness in the tech world that was an extremely uninteresting and minor trial between two hypercorps. There were no underdogs and no need to feel bad for either party in any way whatsoever, and about the only thing with wider impact might have been Samsung's trying to get around exhaustion. In general it was a simple disagreement of the most vanilla kind. The money is dogfood, and the design patent/trade dress stuff is super easy to work around as everyone already has been busily doing. I won't go and call $1 billion "nothing", as that might be a bit to far into hyperbole, but Samsung had $12.1 billion in profit on $149 billion in revenue last year. The money is basically meaningless to either Apple or to Samsung except in terms of PR maybe.

Finally, if you (like most of us) strongly dislike software patents in particular, please remember to write your representatives about it. It's ultimately up to legislatures to deal with this stuff, in the end the courts (particularly lower courts) need to follow the law. Nothing much has happened because it has yet to become an issue that is brought up in elections. However long it takes, it's up to all of us to make that happen. I used to get very mad at companies using software patents when it first really started to ramp up a decade or two ago, but at this point I find it hard to blame them. I mean, it's the law of the land, I'm not sure how long I can reasonably pretend that companies should all just ignore what's legal.

The trickiest part about supporting LTE is that the widest network availability is still largely limited to the US. Where other deployments exist, they don't support they same frequencies. The US is still a very large market for the iPhone, despite the majority of sales coming from foreign buyers.

Apple is going to have to make multiple models of the next iPhone just to support LTE in the US since you can't have both AT&T and Verizon 700MHz support on the same device. That said a third model for the EU/Asia and other areas to support LTE on 800/1800/2.6GHz shouldn't be an issue from a technical standpoint. It might not come out immediately but I assume it'll come before Christmas. And maybe a fourth model for China Mobile's 650M subscribers before Chinese new year.

What you won't get with the LTE iPhone is international LTE roaming. But considering AT&T charges $30 for 120MB of data I'm ok with just 3G speeds abroad.

Who cares? Same old Apple crap. Why does the iPhone continue to get so much more press coverage than phones that are truly bringing something new to the table? Same platform with the same boring UI and same dull form factor but higher resolution and everyone goes nuts for it. Yawn,

I'm not sure what Apple can do now that they have painted themselves into a legal corner. If I were HTC, Samsung and Motorola, I would be putting a patent on ever little phone innovation, design and look just to be safe.

Processor should be A15 based. An A15 dual core is faster than A9 quad core.

Yes dual A15 should slaughter quad A9, but there are two issues I haven't been able to see a clear answer too. First and most fundamentally, are those actually ready to ramp up? I had read that they might not make it widely into SoCs until 2013, though maybe it's gotten accelerated? Second, is the A7 ready to go too? I was under the impression that the A15, in the process of getting goodies like OoOE that make for its big speed jump, also is much more power hungry. An A7 companion or two would take care of that, but is it really suitable for use by itself in a phone-sized form factor at the 28nm node?

I'd love some links for some more recent reading on that. TI showed off the OMAP 5 (A15 + SGX 544MP2) at CES, but at that point they said "early 2013".

The new iPhone may go quad-core, but not to "keep up appearances". I also don't think that there will be major hardware changes aside from LTE and the new case. There's a lot of good stuff in iOS 6; really, the differentiation these days is coming from software more than hardware (not that they are ultimately separable).

I'm not a fan of the widescreen change, myself. 16:10 might have been nice but I find 16:9 too long and thin to be useful in portrait mode. Come to think of it, I dislike the form factor.

The connector change has me somewhat more curious. Now that iOS supports wireless sync, it needs a killer feature other than 'faster' to be worth the compatibility break. Tablets/phones are in greater need of high bandwidth wireless communication than they need a faster cable. Airplay Mirroring being an example.

Who cares? Same old Apple crap. Why does the iPhone continue to get so much more press coverage than phones that are truly bringing something new to the table? Same platform with the same boring UI and same dull form factor but higher resolution and everyone goes nuts for it. Yawn,

Apple rumors are the vital food of all gadgets sites, like Ars, Engadget and Verge.

Who cares? Same old Apple crap. Why does the iPhone continue to get so much more press coverage than phones that are truly bringing something new to the table? Same platform with the same boring UI and same dull form factor but higher resolution and everyone goes nuts for it. Yawn,

Because it sells far more than any other phone? And because a new one only comes out once a year?

Who cares? Same old Apple crap. Why does the iPhone continue to get so much more press coverage than phones that are truly bringing something new to the table? Same platform with the same boring UI and same dull form factor but higher resolution and everyone goes nuts for it. Yawn,

Because it sells far more than any other phone? And because a new one only comes out once a year?

that's only true because there's only 1 iOS device. And either way, the galaxy s3 was selling more than the iPhone for a while, I don't get why everything is iPhone either

Who cares? Same old Apple crap. Why does the iPhone continue to get so much more press coverage than phones that are truly bringing something new to the table? Same platform with the same boring UI and same dull form factor but higher resolution and everyone goes nuts for it. Yawn,

There has been plenty of coverage of Jellybean. The only real problem being that very few OEMs are actually offering it to their customers. Many still haven't gotten around to pushing out ICS.

We think a lot of users will find this bottom placement bothersome and awkward, though the headphone jack is on the bottom of more than one iPod model.

No, I'll find this to be how I always wanted it. When I stick my hand in my pocket, I prefer to be able to grab the phone and pull it up out in front of my without turning it.

This.With more backpacks, jackets, and carry-ons now having a dedicated "phone pocket" (indeed, all of my frequently used items in those categories do) "bottom up" simply makes the most ergonomic sense.Lost count of the number of people I've seen pull their iPhones out by the earphone jack (eeek! nooo!) only to have it drop off and fall, or try to do the "flip" with one hand and drop their phone on hard airport floors...

I have a hard time believing that the new iPhone's taller screen is going to satisfy demand for a large screen iPhone. The extra width available in portrait mode on a large screen android device makes typing much more comfortable, especially for folks with fat thumbs. Taller!=larger.

Who cares? Same old Apple crap. Why does the iPhone continue to get so much more press coverage than phones that are truly bringing something new to the table? Same platform with the same boring UI and same dull form factor but higher resolution and everyone goes nuts for it. Yawn,

Why are there so many iPhone rumor articles on the internet? Comments like yours on other websites are one reason.Ars is pretty sane where the Apple hate is at a manageable level. So, rumors are pretty infrequent here.

But let's take a website like CNET. It posts an iPhone rumor article and then this results in about 100 comments with people complaining about too many Apple articles and then people hating Apple. (Of course a few people defend Apple and that keeps the flame war going.)* But all those comments bring in money to CNET. - So, CNET decided to post iPhone rumor articles about every week and CNET even has a special page just for iPhone rumors!!!Here is the link.http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20 ... r-roundup/

Even Windows focused websites like ZDNet and PC Magazine have regular Apple articles. And most of the reaction to those are negative towards Apple.

* I think with a lot of tech jounalism websites (not Ars) there is an Apple hate business model.

The frequency issue appears to have been resolved by Qualcomm in their WTR1605L chipset - which supports 7 different bands. That should mean that Apple can build one phone which will work throughout the world.

What is the battery life on LTE phones like though? I remember that the original iPhone was EDGE rather than 3G because of the poor talk and standby times.

Yes. So those bands for the EU/Asia model is 800/900/1800/1900/2100/2.6. The chip may support seven bands but those bands are limited - 3 below 1Ghz, 3 between 1.0-2.2GHz and one above 2.2ghz.

For the USA it's 700/800/850/1900/2100/AWS and either 2.3 or 2.6. The 700 band will either be lower or upper (not both). So that's 2 models there.

I have a hard time believing that the new iPhone's taller screen is going to satisfy demand for a large screen iPhone. The extra width available in portrait mode on a large screen android device makes typing much more comfortable, especially for folks with fat thumbs. Taller!=larger.

Wider = no no no for me. Small hands, short fingers, often one-hand use.

I was experimenting with my brother's SII (I think? One of the S's before the III) and it was scary how unbalanced it felt, particularly when I had to stretch my thumb just that little bit. That forces my other fingers to tilt back and because the S? was so thin and broad and light it felt as if if the weight quickly shifted. Note it may not be actually true but it was very unsettling for a pricey bit of kit!

It's kind of a tough call for me. I do like the big screen but I am hesitant that I would actually find it as useable. My iPhone 3GS is just so comfortable in the hand; one reason, btw, I haven't upgraded yet – don't really like the feel of the 4 style.

The frequency issue appears to have been resolved by Qualcomm in their WTR1605L chipset - which supports 7 different bands. That should mean that Apple can build one phone which will work throughout the world.

What is the battery life on LTE phones like though? I remember that the original iPhone was EDGE rather than 3G because of the poor talk and standby times.

This is not the hard part. The hard part is the analog electronics (filters and power amplifiers) required for all those bands, while preventing them from interfering with each other through stray capacitances and inductances.

One technology that can help with this is to replace the filters based on capacitance+inductance+resistance with filters based on MEMS. People have been talking about MEMS RF filters for cellphones for years, and there were a spate of (non-commercial) announcements in 2010, but I'm unaware of them shipping in any product.

On the other hand, this is precisely the sort of thing we expect from Apple --- that they would be the first to adopt a technology like this which might cost a little more, but which saves some space in the phone and allows for support of a larger number of frequencies (ie a better world phone). So I'd put this down as a very interesting techie possibility for iPhone Next --- that it uses RF-MEMS for filters. MEMS are sexy, so I can imagine (especially if Apple really are the first major phone to use these, and if they have some sort of one-year exclusive with the manufacturer) that they might make a big deal about this at the announcement.

(BTW Samsung shipped what is called an RF-MEMS filter, bought from Orange County based WiSpry, in a Windows phone in early 2012. This is not the type of device I find most interesting. As far as I can tell, this "RF-MEMS" is still based on inductors + capacitors, not on mechanical resonance, so it still suffers from stray capacitance + inductance.

Having said that, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and if one COULD create a single RF-MEMS that supports a large number of frequencies by mechanically moving capacitors and/or inductors, that's probably almost as good a solution as mechanical resonance.

However this tech appears to have only one design win so far, and that in a low-volume phone; which makes one suspect it has problems.)

The frequency issue appears to have been resolved by Qualcomm in their WTR1605L chipset - which supports 7 different bands. That should mean that Apple can build one phone which will work throughout the world.

What is the battery life on LTE phones like though? I remember that the original iPhone was EDGE rather than 3G because of the poor talk and standby times.

Wu Shi wrote:

SirOmega wrote:

Quote:

The trickiest part about supporting LTE is that the widest network availability is still largely limited to the US. Where other deployments exist, they don't support they same frequencies. The US is still a very large market for the iPhone, despite the majority of sales coming from foreign buyers.

Apple is going to have to make multiple models of the next iPhone just to support LTE in the US since you can't have both AT&T and Verizon 700MHz support on the same device. That said a third model for the EU/Asia and other areas to support LTE on 800/1800/2.6GHz shouldn't be an issue from a technical standpoint. It might not come out immediately but I assume it'll come before Christmas. And maybe a fourth model for China Mobile's 650M subscribers before Chinese new year.

What you won't get with the LTE iPhone is international LTE roaming. But considering AT&T charges $30 for 120MB of data I'm ok with just 3G speeds abroad.

The situation was similar for the 3rd gen iPad, but with different Qualcomm chip combo. In the end, though, this limitation seems to have caused the iPad to split into two versions, each with different iOS firmware.

So anyways, if the new iPhone actually goes with that chipset, there's a possibility that the phone could split into THREE models. I can't quite see Apple doing that, though. So the rumour was that Apple could just go with the Verizon/AT&T model scheme and drop the European model.

So my hunch was that the Korean telco execs went over to Apple to persuade modification of one of the codes - change Band 2 support to Band 3, probably, since the two are adjacent and occupy the same port.

If this is the case, you can have the untouched North America A code for Verizon/Sprint LTE, while the modified North America B code would work for AT&T/Canada/Korea/Others.